That’s when I decided to make the most of what was left of my life. If I was going to die, I would go out fighting.

The remaining guards rushed me. If I’d been worried about the Movement’s rules, I would have tried not to do too much damage. But it seemed that the best course of action would be to grab heads and twist.

I’d killed three by the time Nathan appeared at my side. His wrists bled where he’d broken free of the binding.

“I’m sorry,” I said immediately, kicking back a guard.

“Don’t apologize, get Cyrus!”

I looked up. He’d nearly reached the door. I leapt over the back of the sofa and blocked him. “Going somewhere?”

“Guards!” he shouted, trying to get past me and still hold his eye in place.

“Go ahead, call more in! I don’t care. I’m dead.” I stepped closer, pulling a stake from my back pocket. “And as far as I’m concerned, so are you. Now, you can go out like a little bitch with your bodyguards backing you up, or you can fight me until one of us is dead. It’s your call. Unless you’re afraid.”

He dropped his hand from his bloodied face. His eye dangled from the socket on a cord of flesh. He pushed it back in and blinked to clear the blood-occluded lens. “I think I’ve underestimated you, Carrie.” Then, turning to the guards swarming Nathan, he shouted, “Everyone out!”

I glanced at Nathan. He’d collapsed to the floor, but he was alive. I could feel his strength coursing through me.

Cyrus stepped back so the guards could file out of the room. I sprang forward and plunged the stake into his skull through his borrowed eye. The bones of the socket separated with a crack. I could have rammed the stake right into his heart to get it over with, but I wanted him to suffer.

“Whoops, was I supposed to wait for a signal or something?” The absurdity of the situation and my actions forced nerve-racked laughter from my throat. It died on a hysterical sob of despair, and I clenched my hands in front of me so hard I drew blood from my palms with my nails.

He pulled ineffectually on the stake protruding from his face. My shock melted away and I seized the opportunity to grab him and pin his arms behind his back.

“You know what’s great about Nathan? His blood is ten times more concentrated than yours because he hasn’t wasted it on a bunch of loser fledglings.” I wrenched the stake from his eye, flinging droplets of blood across the room. Then I stabbed the sharpened wood into his back. “You know what? I think it makes me stronger!”

Despite the bravado of my words, my voice shook.

His legs crumpled beneath him and he tried to speak, but choked on his blood. I closed my eyes and took the deepest breath I’ve ever taken in my whole life. The part of me that still believed he could be good wanted to escape the part of me that wounded him in rage. Guilt tore through me for doing something so violent to a man I’d thought I might have loved, but my logical mind was stronger. Cyrus had earned this, and if I didn’t kill him, he would repeat this sick game with other fledglings for an eternity. Summoning more courage, I twisted the stake and he gasped.